2004 impala New radio installed and lost my system ding...

[dorlow]

Ok, I brought my car into Best Buy because my battery was draining fast (from my factory radio). If I didn't drive my car for more than a few days, my battery was dead. I did a parasitic drain test and found that it was something in the radio circuit. I figured i'd have Best Buy change the radio and ask them to look out for reasons why my battery was draining fast.

Well, when they changed it out, they said that it looks like someone spliced into my radio harness many times. Also, my factory amp was wired to be on 100% of the time. But there were many bare spots in the wires behind my factory harness and the only way they could make my install reliable is to eliminate my factory harness. But what went along with that is I lost my system ding.

So, now my car's amps draining when off is acceptable. Everything seems to work great. I got some new features in my car with a new stereo. So, most is good. But a few minutes ago, I got to thinking maybe it will be a problem not having a system ding. Nothing to ding at me if there's a problem with my car going down the road. Tires low on pressure, oil low, check engine light on, low on gas, etc.

Is there a way I could wire in a system ding that just wired a separate speaker to the factory wiring harness that would give me the ding back? I asked the Best Buy tech yesterday before I just thought of the repercussions and he said he basically disabled it so whatever was causing the drain shouldn't be doing it anymore. It sounded like to me that whatever he did to go around the factory harness disabled the factory stuff in it yet he didn't have to pull the harness out of the car... like he could still use the factory wiring but the factory signals through it aren't there anymore. I guess I didn't know exactly what he was doing, and trusted he was the expert and had him go at it.

UPDATE: Yeah, it kind of sucks. I was driving when it's raining so I turned my lights on. I got out after parking and then walked away then realized the car never dinged at me for leaving my lights on. That will probably bite me someday.

[dorlow]

Before he bypassed the factory harness, he first used it and I think he had a aftermarket chime and it worked. But once he said be had to bypass tbre factory harenesss, he refunded the aftermarket chime saying it won't work anymore.

[la1]

Most of the important stuff is displayed on the information display. Just not a ding. If you get a schematic you or someone else could probably wire it back in. It will either be from the the BCM or PCM. What year is your impala? If its 2000-2005 i have a schematic.

[dorlow]

Originally Posted by la1

Most of the important stuff is displayed on the information display. Just not a ding. If you get a schematic you or someone else could probably wire it back in. It will either be from the the BCM or PCM. What year is your impala? If its 2000-2005 i have a schematic.

I have a 2004. Would this make it "ding" like factory, or just for certain things? For instance, I think I'm going to attempt to wire a "ding" so when I leave the lights on, it will ding. I think I know how to do it now and have the parts. (Cost $3 for a little speaker thing at Radio Shack.)

[dorlow]

I'm also wondering why I can't just buy an aftermarket dinger... I think I understand why the one they were going to install won't work. Its because they bypassed the harness, so there was no way using the same harness to be in the bus and also have the speaker wires to send the sound out to... because the PCM bus is not being used for the radio. But why couldn't we put the after market dinger and hook it to the same wires on the bus, then run the sound out to the speakers, or maybe it's own little speaker in the dash? I don't need the dinger to go through the radio speakers.